Rand Paul Grills Mullin Over 'Anger Issues'

Sen. Rand Paul turned a high-profile Homeland Security confirmation hearing into a personal confrontation Wednesday, accusing nominee Markwayne Mullin of celebrating political violence and questioning his fitness to run the department.

• Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma tapped by President Trump to succeed Kristi Noem as Homeland Security secretary, faced Paul's blistering opening statement before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, CBS News reports. Paul, a fellow Republican who chairs the committee, revisited the 2017 attack by his neighbor that left him with six broken ribs and a damaged lung, then cited Mullin's recent comments calling him a "freaking snake" and saying he understood why the neighbor assaulted him.

• Paul said, "I just wonder if someone who applauds violence against their political opponents is the right person to lead an agency that has struggled to accept limits to the proper use of force." Paul pressed Mullin to repeat his remarks directly. "Tell it to my face, if that's what you believe," he said, later urging Mullin to explain "why they should trust a man with anger issues" to lead an agency that oversees ICE and the Border Patrol.
• Paul also highlighted a 2023 Senate hearing in which Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, challenged Teamsters President Sean O'Brien to a fight, and played a video montage of Mullin's past confrontational moment.
• Paul said that in the days after the O'Brien clash, Mullin praised the 1856 caning incident, in which a pro-slavery House member brutally beat an anti-slavery senator on the Senate floor. "What I was simply pointing out is some of the rules that still applied to this body," Mullin said, per Raw Story. "For instance, dueling with two consenting adults is still there." Paul replied, "It's been illegal for 170 years. There's no precedent for legal dueling."

• Mullin said he sees Paul as someone who fights fellow Republicans more than he works with them. Mullin also accused Paul of spending "millions of dollars" against him in past races, but said he would set aside "partisan bickering" to "earn the job" of Homeland Security secretary.
• Paul later asked that the hearing record reflect what he called Mullin's "lack of contrition" and said he could not overlook Mullin's "unrepentant" stance.
• Mullin didn't apologize to Paul, but he said he regretted calling Alex Pretti, a Minneapolis man killed by federal agents in January, "deranged," Politico reports.
• Mullin urged lawmakers to work together to end the agency's funding lapse, the AP reports. He said that he would continue the agency's work and avoid the controversies that dogged Noem. "I can have different opinions with everybody in this room, but as secretary of Homeland I'll be protecting everybody," he said. "My goal in six months is that we're not in the lead story every single day."
• Despite Paul's opposition, Democratic Sen. John Fetterman has already signaled support, making it likely Mullin's nomination will advance to the full Senate, where a simple majority is required for confirmation.